AKASO EK7000 4K30FPS Action Camera Ultra HD Underwater Camera 170 Degree Wide Angle 98FT Waterproof Camera

This is the second action camera I purchased. The first was a slightly cheaper (~$50), different brand, and it was awful. When I received the Akaso (~$70) I was very surprised at how much better it was than the cheaper alternative.

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PROS
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– The build quality is pretty great for its cost. It’s not perfect, but it’s very good for what you’re paying. The top-side button is a little sticky on mine, but otherwise the buttons are all tactile and responsive.
– Aesthetically (this won’t apply to everyone) I think this cam looks great. Matte black finish and some white text. Nothing too over the top and it just works for me. The finish isn’t perfect, and I’ve already had a bit of wear on the matte black paint and I’ve only used it for less than a week! This doesn’t concern my too much, though.
– Size and weight, this action cam is almost identical to a GoPro, other than a little thicker. Length and width is the same, with maybe a larger lens. Weight is very similar.
– The interface is pretty nice. The LCD screen isn’t the highest of quality, and does actually make the footage looks sub-par (more on quality of footage below), but it does the job fine. The start up splash screen looks nice and boots up pretty quickly. The GUI is very un-apologetically GoPro styled. Not much innovation in terms of changing the interface, but the GoPro interface is very nice, so why bother putting a lot of effort into changing it? Nice array of settings to change footage quality, set the date, turn on WiFi, etc.
– The footage quality (in my opinion) is very good. I compared the footage (and everything else) against a GoPro Hero4 and the cheaper action cam I mentioned above, and honestly the Akaso had the best quality of them all. Now, this is just my opinion and yours may differ, but I found the Akaso colours to be much richer. Sharpness of the video was on par with the GoPro. As mentioned above, the footage looks much worse on the LCD while recording, so don’t focus on that too much. Once you get it onto your computer it’s much better!
– The accessories this cam comes with are excellent. High quality plastic and don’t feel cheap. Crazy that the camera comes with all these accessories as well as a second battery and a dual battery charger. The remote control it comes with (although I’m not sure whenever I’d use it) is also very good.

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CONS
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– Battery life is a bit less than a GoPro. In my very limited testing I found a GoPro Hero4 at 1080p60 lasted around 1h40-1h50 minutes, whereas the Akaso lasted around 1h30. Considering that you get two batteries in this package and the GoPro only comes with one this isn’t much of a complaint.
– The Android application they suggest to use with the WiFi functionality of this camera is not very good. I don’t think the makers of this camera are affiliated with the application, so this isn’t a complaint to them, but something potential buyers should be aware of if that’s a big requirement to them (the WiFi feature, nor the application, were a necessity to me).
– The battery tray detaches from the camera, which is a petty thing to complain about, but can probably get lost easily. I understand why they did it though (cost).
– Once recording, there is no indication on the front of the camera, but there is a flashing red LED on the top, next to the start/stop button. This is convenient in that it exists, but may have been more beneficial being on the front.
– Stopping the footage once the screen has gone to sleep is a little temperamental, in that if you press the stop button it will wake the screen, and then I believe you have to press it again to actually stop the footage. The interface isn’t super snappy, so I’ve had a few situations where I’ve accidentally started a new clip while trying to stop the previous one. Also, you cannot seem to stop a new clip until a couple of seconds have passed. I’m sure I’ll get use to this though.
– You can set the date and time in the interface, which takes a bit of time, and that information is applied to the naming of the files on the SD card. However, that date/time is reset once you remove the battery, which you’ll probably be doing considering you have a spare available. This obviously makes sense, but a little annoying all the same. The date/time is automatically applied once you connect to the Android app, however, which is a nice touch, but I doubt I’ll be using the WiFi much.
– When you record for a long time it will split the video file into multiple files. This is the same as on a GoPro. However, on a GoPro it will create a matching naming structure to indicate they belong to the same recording clip (i.e. gopro01.mp4, gopro02.mp4). This isn’t the case with the Akaso, it will just create a new file with the date/time naming structure, same as any other clip (i.e. 20180204-100001.mov, 20180204-101203). This may be an issue if you have lots of clips on your card, as you’ll have to manually open every file and determine yourself which of the files are combined into the same recording.

I’ve listed a fair few cons here, but honestly, none of them are a big deal. They’re all perfectly understandable when you consider you’ve spent a quarter what you’d spend on a GoPro, and when ultimately it’s the footage which is (probably) the most important, this thing really takes a great video. Not really played with photos, but that’s not what I bought it for. Likewise, I don’t own anything 4K, so I’ve stuck with just 1080 content for the time being.

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Conclusion
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Great build quality. Great footage. Cheap price. Lots of accompanying accessories and batteries. Can’t complain at all.

Esta cámara viene muy completa, incluye varios montajes diversos y 2 baterías.
Considero es un producto equilibrado ya que a un precio competitivo se ofrece una calidad de grabación adecuada (4k a 25fps o 1080 a 60fps). Mi recomendación es usar la calidad de 1080 para no perder frames por segundo, como sea se ve bien así para la mayoría de propósitos.
El tamaño de la cámara es muy conveniente al ser el mismo que otras de mayor prestigio, por lo tanto no batallarás en encontrar accesorios.

So, I am going to say right off the bat, I paid $83 for an action camera, I was expecting an $83 action camera. Short handed, that’s not what I got.

Shortly after getting this camera I immediately set to taking it through its paces. Between dash mounted footage, motorcycle helmet footage, and eventual PodCams (podcast video accompaniment), I needed to get a strong feel for how well this camera handled it. I took it around my yard on the two modes I will record video (1080p60 and 4K24). Then I strapped it to my motorcycle helmet and went for a ride. I picked up a decent amount of footage.

Now, I am going to briefly cover the reason I took half a star from my actual rating. I used the iSmart DV app (as the product description says to use, since the original one has been depreciated) to activate the recording for the ride, because it’s mounted to my helmet, that was being worn. I expected that it would record until I brought my phone back out and stopped it from the app as well. Turns out, after my half an hour ride, it only recorded about 3 minutes of it, because at some point it decided to stop recording. This was annoying, but I can live with that, I don’t really have faith in App controls, so I will just use the included remote control to do it from now on.

Moving on! Once I took the footage from the various modes off the camera and transferred them to my PC, I previewed it all. Mind you my expectations were pretty low, since it’s an $83 action camera, but what I watched was astonishing. The 1080p60 was the best of the two modes I used, because the framerate made it seem much more lifelike than the 24fps 4K. Either way, I definitely did not expect such video quality with this. Now that we know I like the video quality, I am going to break down the keypoints I look for in cameras, and various devices as a whole.

Build Quality: Now, it’s not a solid block of metal that you are confident would sustain being pitched against a concrete wall, but it’s not a flimsy piece of hollow plastic either. It’s lightweight without feeling super cheap. I’d say the one thing that will most certainly become an issue later in it’s life is the battery door. It’s just difficult to get off that you lose finesse, and must utilize focused brute force. One day that motion will break the tabs. Hopefully Akaso has some sort of minor parts store one can purchase a new battery door from, for when that time does come. Quick note, the mounts, remote, and various accessories this comes with are all well built as well.

Video Quality: Crisp, clean, and pleasurable, as long as you have sufficient light. There aren’t many cameras like this that do all that well in super low light, but this wasn’t awful. However, note that your frame rate will drop a bit if you are in a noticeably darker room.

Audio Quality: Junk. As expected. They all are. Mind you, it is there, but like every action camera I’ve ever used, the audio is not clear and far reaching, but muffled, because I am fairly certain they all drop them under the solid plastic casing, not exposed to the air. So the sound is muffled. That’s true of all action cameras of this size, if you are looking for audio quality over video, you want the Zoom Q8, it has nowhere near the video quality of this camera, but it records studio grade audio with many interchangeable mic modules you can buy.

Battery Life: Lacking. You can get a little over an hour recording 1080p60 on one charge. There are two redeeming factors here that saved it from losing more of a star. 1) The camera comes with two batteries, doubling the life. 2) The camera still records when you have the camera plugged into a charger or external battery, so if long life matters, you have options. Plus getting more batteries isn’t crazy expensive anyway.

User Interface and Controls: Simple, easy to understand, and feature rich. The included remote is pretty killer too. It does have the “wifi” option, and for basic operation that is cool, but my experience with it, as stated above, was not great. 5 different video modes (720p120, 1080p30, 1080p60, 2.7k30, 4K24), and 2 still image modes (single and burst), as well as a time lapse option, it’s hard to ask for more really.
Additional features: MicroSD card slot, up to 64GB, use class 10 or higher. A 64gb calss 10 card gets you over 6 hours of 1080p60 footage without switching cards.

Included accessories: Well, the fact that it comes with ANY gives it an edge, but it comes with a solid starting base of accessories for mounting, charging and controlling. Way more than the big brand GoPro.

Now that I’ve said that magic word (GoPro) let me end on this:

I’ve rented a GoPro Hero5 to use on a road trip. I pulled that footage up today and compared it to the footage taken with this Akaso, two clips nearly identical light, identical settings, and this Akaso kicks it’s butt with video quality. Hands down. So, for less than a quarter of the price, you get this camera that out classes the Hero5 and comes with well, a lot, whereas that Hero5 $400 pricetag just gets you the camera. No deal GoPro, Akaso, you’re winning. I look forward to getting the three more I need, and pumping out great video content, care of Akaso’s great camera.

EDIT:

The biggest plan behind this camera was to get one per microphone for my podcasts. That’s when I quickly learned something irreversibly bad about the cameras as a series. I’ll start off with a note that everything else I said is true, of the first camera I received. However, upon receipt of two more to round off my mic came, I realized that one of the two I received was different. Sure, the model number was the same, but there’s a laundry list of things different. The “features” remain the same, but one sensor needs to be back about 6″ from the other to capture the same image. It’s as if one is zoomed in a bit further than the other. The software itself reacts just slightly different as well. For example, when it’s plugged into power the cameras all turn on automatically, however when you long press the power, the different one doesn’t shut back off, but instead goes into something of a sleep mode.

But in the end, I returned all of these cameras today because of the primary flaws:

They record at a mere fraction of a fraction variance of speed, add in that occasionally when the file switches to a new, it loses a frame or more. This leads right up to the complete inability to sync recordings together into one cohesive project. I can’t record the same event, in 3 different angles, and make a single video out of it without losing sync with all of them by the end.

So, if you are planning to use more than one of these, prepare to run into a lot of issues. Consistency in equipment is a must for production equipment. Unfortunately these just don’t have it. So, if app you need is one single high quality action camera, go ahead and grab this. Me? I’ll be getting a round of Zoom Q2Ns, because they make consistent equipment for professionals.

This review of Akaso EK7000 will be based on Pros and Cons.
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IN THE BOX
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1. Manual
2. 20 types of Accessories
3. Action Camera
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PROS OF THIS CAMERA
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1. Great Build quality.
2. Compact in size.
3. Includes 2 1050mAh battery that gives a great battery backup.
4. Can record videos up to 4K at 25fps.
5. It can also record slow 720p motion videos at 120fps.
6. The best thing about it is that it is capable of recording 1080p videos qt 60fps that most of the cameras at this price point cannot do.
7. One of the best thing about this camera is that it comes with the waterproof case and bunch of accessories that are more than enough and you don’t have to buy extra accessories.
8. It supports microSD carf up to 32 gigs and it is more than enough.
9. It can also be used while charging.
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CONS OF THIS CAMERA
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The only thing that I did not liked about this is the display. If it is directly in front of you than it is good and also good visibility under sunlight and if it is you look at it in different angles than it is not at all good.